The Japanese team enjoys the support of the home crowd at the Grand Champions Cup
Lausanne, Switzerland, September 8, 2017 – Japan and USA, trailing close behind unbeaten China, with a 2-1 win-loss record each at the 2017 FIVB Women's World Grand Champions Cup, will be looking to stay in contention for the title as they close the penultimate competition day in Nagoya with a face-to-face encounter. Saturday’s match between Japan and USA will be their fifth meeting in the history of the World Grand Champions Cup.
Head-to-Head
• Japan and USA will meet for the fifth time at the Grand Champions Cup.
• Japan won the first two encounters between these teams at the Grand Champions Cup, in 1993 and 2001 (both 3-1).
• USA won their last two Grand Champions Cup matches against Japan. In 2005 they won in straight sets and in 2013 they won 3-1.
• Their most recent meeting came at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in which USA won in straight sets.
Japan
• Japan won in five sets against Brazil in their last Grand Champions Cup match. They had never won a five-setter before at the Grand Champions Cup. They lost in 1993 to Russia and in 2005 to Poland.
• They can win their third victory at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup, equalling their best total tally ever set in 2001 and equalled in 2013.
• In both 2001 and 2013, Japan finished third, their only top-three finishes in the competition.
• Japan can win back-to-back matches for the third time at the Grand Champions Cup as they won their first two matches in 2001 and back-to-back matches in 2013.
• Yuki Ishii scored 18 spike points against Brazil, at least five more than any other player.
USA
• USA started the tournament with a 1-3 loss to China but won their following two games - against Korea (in straight sets) and against Russia (in five sets).
• USA have now won their last three five-set matches they have played at the Grand Champions Cup. In all these fixtures, they started the match by losing the first set.
• USA have a slightly positive record at the Grand Champions Cup as they won 12 of their previous 23 matches, losing 11.
• Foluke Akinradewo (18 points) and Rachael Adams (10 points) were the only USA players to score points in spikes, blocks and serves against Russia.